For the first time since the establishment of the Football Federation Australia in 2004, clubs will have a major say in the governance of domestic football after forming a joint consortium to restructure the A-League's administration.
A landmark meeting in Melbourne took place on Wednesday morning, in which all 10 A-League club owners agreed to establish an eight-man committee that will oversee a plan for expansion and financial remodelling of the competition.
For the next five months, a committee involving four representatives each from the clubs and the FFA will look to trim the hefty financial losses for the owners by devising a new governance system for the competition. The foundation of this venture follows years of the owners' frustration at losing money, said to be in excess of $200 million collectively since the start of the competition 11 years ago.
Despite a bullish history when it comes to relinquishing power to the clubs, the FFA appeased the owners by expressing newfound willingness to make significant structural change. The new FFA board will give the clubs an equal opportunity to end the contentious centralised merchandising, finding a true valuation of the A-League and increase revenue streams from within the game. This follows the governing body allowing two representatives of the club owners to be involved in the negotiations of the new A-League broadcast deal.
Both the clubs and the FFA ruled out the chance of a breakaway administration severing ties with the FFA to govern the A-League independently, similar to most high-profile leagues in the world. However, the door remains open for this new joint committee between the clubs and FFA governing the competition in the future.
"There is a great momentum and excitement around the game at the moment and it is important that we work together to ensure the game's operating model evolves and takes advantage of the opportunities ahead of it," FFA chief executive David Gallop said. "The suggestion that a break away from the FFA is imminent is off the mark. The recent FIFA/AFC visit has seen an in-principle agreement to make some changes and FFA is committed to work collaboratively with all the game's stakeholders to reach a model that meets the game's future needs."
At Wednesday's meeting, the governing body approved the clubs' request to have an increased representation at the membership tier of the FFA, giving the clubs a major influence over the make-up of the board. World football governing body, FIFA, was notified of the move to raise the clubs' voice from one seat of 10, to three seats at the membership level, which elects the board members to the FFA.
"Today's meeting was both collaborative and productive. It included extensive discussion about exploring the optimum commercial model for the Hyundai A-League and its next phase of growth and expansion," Adelaide United chairman Greg Griffin said.
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/ffa-and-aleague-club-owners-establish-joint-consortium-to-restructure-the-league-20161012-gs0uxw.html